​Break in leads to theft of supporters' details

Data containing supporters' names, bank details, addresses and phone numbers have been stolen from an international aid charity.

Plan UK’s offices in London were broken into on 22 November but details are only just emerging about the data theft.

Thieves stole five computer servers during the break in but the charity, which helps children in poor countries, said extracting the data would be “extremely difficult” due to its security measures.

The aid organisation has over 90,000 supporters sponsoring 96,000 children and last year received around £27m from sponsorship, donations and legacies.

Chief executive Tanya Barron said: “On the evening of Sunday, 22 November, there was a break-in at the Plan UK office in London, during which entry was forced into a locked server room and five computer servers stolen.

“These servers contained some information relating to supporters, including name, address, contact details, bank account numbers and sort codes.

"This information on its own cannot be used to access supporters’ bank accounts. No credit or debit card details were obtained.

“We are contacting supporters to inform them of the situation and provide advice.

“Security measures on the data held means that obtaining the supporter information in these files would be very difficult.”

Plan said it has notified the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Charity Commission while a police investigation is underway.